Ranger Archive

Thread: New Ranger Theory

Phenix1050
Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:45 am
#1

Every now and then, I like to break from posting innane posts about evil garments or show funny pictures of Calculus and actually post a serious thought. This just happens to be one of those times.


I was pondering what exactly the role of scout/ranger in this game is. Looking around the game as a whole, I think I've found a very good anology on which Rangers can base their ideas/suggestions for the future. Looking around the game right now, it might be hard to find a role for Rangers. There appears to be no professions like it. Until, that is, you come to...Jedi?


Consider this- Master Powers and Master Enhancerare combat professions insofar thatthey grant creature level and provides Force (which fuels other aspects of combat).Disregarding the damage dealing aspect of Powers, it's easy to see that they have a lot of supportabilities. Enhancer has specials that increase your effectiveness with other skillsets while also containing a vast array of states affects. It has a powerful defensive abilities and also combat speed modifiers. Powers has stealth and area effect state attacks.


It is difficult to compare Jedi to normal professions, as their disciplines are much more cut-and-dry, but perhaps we can define Ranger as a combat enhancement profession. I wouldn't mind having weapons and such, but if we build ourselves around this amalgamation of Enhancer and Powers, we'd actually see a very interesting profession start to develop.


Take the speed and defense of Enhancer. Rangers similarly could have a toggle-able speed increase (though not nearly as powerful as FR3). They could have resistance to disease and poison, like Enhancer, as well as defensive abilities. They could also have (perhaps) either combat speed mods or a small self-buff to haste in combat. (something like force speed 1, but at Master Ranger). They could have the stealth like Powers as well.


Thus, we see a lot more similarities between Jedi professions and regular professions. Melee professions are the Lightsabers, Ranged professions are the ranged damage dealing of powers, Docs/CMs are akin to Healers and Scouts/Rangers would be akin to the Enhancer/powers professions. Thus, there are 4 main combat novice professions. Marksman and Brawler are damage dealing, Medic is healing and Scout, currently not viewed as a combat pre-req by many, become the Combat Enhancer novice profession.


This would be an interesting way to look at the game. We can see traps as the same as Enhancer specials, our TN bonuses as passive versions of the Enhancer specials, camo as our version of cloak, etc. This allows us to have a firm stance on what we are. Now Rangers want to have a combat role, and I think using this as our guiding theory of what we are, we have a profession that we can model ourselves after and be the non-Jedi equivalent of.



PHE'NIX ANTARUS
BOTHAN ELDER RANGER
BEST LOOKINGSPY EVER--FOUNDER OF SATGWNIWNU
BURNING H*TPANTS SINCE 2003


This is horrible! I return to find my new title on the forum is "Jedi". What's up with that? If they wanted to confer that I'm rare and learned, they'd make my title RANGER. and then make it camo colored.
groundcrew
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:03 am
#2






Phenix1050 wrote:


This would be an interesting way to look at the game. We can see traps as the same as Enhancer specials, our TN bonuses as passive versions of the Enhancer specials, camo as our version of cloak, etc. This allows us to have a firm stance on what we are. Now Rangers want to have a combat role, and I think using this as our guiding theory of what we are, we have a profession that we can model ourselves after and be the non-Jedi equivalent of.






Great post P


I like the idea of us being a Combat Enhancement, but the problem I see is this. Every other combat oriented profession can carry out what they do and stand alone accept Scouts / Rangers. With out an additional combat profession Rangers can't hunt. Our traps lay down great states but none of them are lethal. The best we can do as just a Master Ranger is support a group. BH can hunt jedi and NPC's withno additional profession.


In my opinion we should be atleast granted the ability to do our job.Near as i can tell that job is Critter hunting, however with Player and NPC tracking in our /areatrack ability and Cammo that hides us from NPC'sthat makes us a Survivalists, and a Guerilla warriors. ProfessionalPartisans if you will.


(no flame intended)



Flakk Gun:Elder Ranger
Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

"My camps may be gone and my cammo changed to Vanish....But I still have my rifle, I still have my love of hunting...and the outdoors, and THAT is what makes me a Ranger."
Rolfie
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:07 am
#3

I would rather perfer a much simpler strategy.


Fix what is broke, improve what sucketh, give us more of a role in the scope of the GCW.


I don't want to be a jedi or jedi like in any way shape or form.







Rolfie Master Ranger, Bantha Poo FTW

BioEngine
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:10 am
#4

We "had" one supportive special, but that got nerfed and then broken. I'm not so sure if we will be getting it back.

Doesn't Powers have some kind of taunt ability?



Account active 'till November 10th, contact me on forum name:
Stamina
Phenix1050
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:17 am
#5

If nobody is horribly opposed to the way this theory sounds, I'm probably going to make a few more posts regarding this and making into my new theory of what to do with Scout/Ranger.


Building upon this theory, I see Squad Leader as a person who chose to take their enhancement abilities and extend it to others (which seems logical given their upcoming changes) CH as a person who chose to enhance their ability to do damage by creating a kinship with nature, Bounty Hunters as people who chose to enhance their ability to hunt people with terrain negotiation skills and Rangers as the ultimate in self-enhancement in combat. Our states, like enhancer don't do damage, but they enhace our ability to do damage.


so let me know what you guys think





PHE'NIX ANTARUS
BOTHAN ELDER RANGER
BEST LOOKINGSPY EVER--FOUNDER OF SATGWNIWNU
BURNING H*TPANTS SINCE 2003


This is horrible! I return to find my new title on the forum is "Jedi". What's up with that? If they wanted to confer that I'm rare and learned, they'd make my title RANGER. and then make it camo colored.
Phenix1050
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:23 am
#6







groundcrew wrote:



Great post P


I like the idea of us being a Combat Enhancement, but the problem I see is this. Every other combat oriented profession can carry out what they do and stand alone accept Scouts / Rangers. With out an additional combat profession Rangers can't hunt. Our traps lay down great states but none of them are lethal. The best we can do as just a Master Ranger is support a group. BH can hunt jedi and NPC's withno additional profession.


In my opinion we should be atleast granted the ability to do our job.Near as i can tell that job is Critter hunting, however with Player and NPC tracking in our /areatrack ability and Cammo that hides us from NPC'sthat makes us a Survivalists, and a Guerilla warriors. ProfessionalPartisans if you will.


(no flame intended)




actually, that's exactly what makes this theory so applicable-- Enhancers themselves have no damage-dealing potential. They have states and offensive specials that augment and enhance their ability to do damage, but as far as I can tell, their abilities are purely augmentive.


By seperating combat from combat enhancement, we have the ability to give us a more definite role. Sure, rangers are good hunters, but knowing how to get next to a creature to kill it is half the battle. I can set up a hunting blind pretty well. I know how to hunt and get to my prey. But none of that is important if I can't shoot straight.


We could be guerilla warriors, but without a way to do damage, we'd be pretty ineffective. In the same way that a Master Enhancer, Master Healer, Defender 4040 isn't a good damage dealer, I'm not convinced Ranger should be a damage-dealing profession. Combat speed mods, and a haste special would go a long way to ensure that a Ranger/Rifleman is more effective than just a Rifleman, though, which is our goal.


The role of combat enhancer is also not creature-exclusive so this would be a good way of allowing us to get involved in the GCW and PvP, but not make us a cookiee-cutter profession.




PHE'NIX ANTARUS
BOTHAN ELDER RANGER
BEST LOOKINGSPY EVER--FOUNDER OF SATGWNIWNU
BURNING H*TPANTS SINCE 2003


This is horrible! I return to find my new title on the forum is "Jedi". What's up with that? If they wanted to confer that I'm rare and learned, they'd make my title RANGER. and then make it camo colored.
Phenix1050
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:33 am
#7






BioEngine wrote:
We "had" one supportive special, but that got nerfed and then broken. I'm not so sure if we will be getting it back.

Doesn't Powers have some kind of taunt ability?





don't believe so. I'm pretty sure that you're thinking of the LS special.


but cehck out this template-- Enhancer 4440, Powers 0412.now forget that it's a Jedi template and imaginethis is what Ranger had


State defense, regular defense, ability to apply many states including snares, roots and knockdown attacks, stealth and the ability to augment ANY combat profession due to haste benefits.


Skillpoint cost is even comparable to what Ranger should be. Tell me that this profession wouldn't be fun to play!



PHE'NIX ANTARUS
BOTHAN ELDER RANGER
BEST LOOKINGSPY EVER--FOUNDER OF SATGWNIWNU
BURNING H*TPANTS SINCE 2003


This is horrible! I return to find my new title on the forum is "Jedi". What's up with that? If they wanted to confer that I'm rare and learned, they'd make my title RANGER. and then make it camo colored.
Ranger_Nizzle
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:45 am
#8

I think you've formulated a great new perspective on our profession, Phen. I kind of like the idea of trying to become more of a combat enhancer rather than a combat beast. Though, Idon't think your approach is giving us quite enough. Only getting an equivalent FR1 at Master?If anything, we should get the FR3 and they get the 1. Yea, Jedi can jump25 feet in the air, but who says they can traverse the ground like Rangers? In lore, we protected them in the wild, this justifies it for me.I like your approach but don't be afraid to give us a little more love in your proposal.

Message Edited by Ranger_Nizzle on 09-07-2005 09:45 AM



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Taeko Ta'rawi
Master Ranger
est. Aug '03


"Here lies the Ranger Profession
Born June 26th 2003
Passed into eternal life Sept. 16th, 2005
R.I.P."
Rolfie
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:47 am
#9


For the sake of argument.


So Sony is going to rewrite Bounty Hunters, Scouts, Creature Handlers, Squad Leaders, and Rangers to make it fit this new format?


This is one of those inane threads you wrote about starting right?






Rolfie Master Ranger, Bantha Poo FTW

Phenix1050
Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:49 am
#10






Rolfie wrote:


For the sake of argument.


So Sony is going to rewrite Bounty Hunters, Scouts, Creature Handlers, Squad Leaders, and Rangers to make it fit this new format?


This is one of those inane threads you wrote about starting right?





not really, no. Bounty hunters alread have enhanced their combat potentialby getting TN and having a defensive boosting special. Creature Handler already has their revamp which enhanced their abilities. Squad Leader is getting their revamp.


Conveniently, they'd only have to change us and Scout.



PHE'NIX ANTARUS
BOTHAN ELDER RANGER
BEST LOOKINGSPY EVER--FOUNDER OF SATGWNIWNU
BURNING H*TPANTS SINCE 2003


This is horrible! I return to find my new title on the forum is "Jedi". What's up with that? If they wanted to confer that I'm rare and learned, they'd make my title RANGER. and then make it camo colored.
Vorpaks
Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:49 am
#11

Actually the name Enhancer is another name for what I thought I would be playing when I first picked up Ranger - Combat Support. Doctors and Squad Leaders are great combat support classes because, exactly like you said, they enhance a person's ability to take and do damage.

Before the CU it was easy to split the basic professions into types:
- Entertainer
- Artisan
- Combat Class (Brawler, Markman)
- Combat Support (Medic, Scout)

In the elite professions things got a little more confusing with hybrids like Smugglers, Bio Engineers, Combat Medics, etc. but some professions were still straight forward. Doctor required Master Medic and no other base professions and was a "pure" combat support class. Ranger was the same, requiring Master Scout and bringing the Scout abilities to the next level the same way Doctor brought Medic to the next level. At least in theory. In reality we started off with weak skills that were semi beefed up a few months after launch, but then became weaker over time as new additions were made to the game that made our skills obsolete.

Back then I remember one of our major arguments was to make our skills as useful as Doctor skills. We saw ourselves as being in the same realm as them - combat support. The ideas like Ranger Toughness, Stealth, etc. were all geared toward the idea of supporting (enhancing) whatever combat profession we chose to pick up. In my own personal vision of my character I have thought of Ranger as the athlete, whereas Doctor is the healer. Being an athlete gives you an edge in combat, just as being a healer does. As an athlete you can run faster, survive longer... of course it did not even begin to cover the concealment and woodsmanship aspect of Ranger, but that is what made the profession even more interesting to me.

After the CU when everything became either combat or non-combat I think we have been focusing on more "typical" combat roles where we have our own weapon and attacks etc. But I admit I still personally prefer the combat support role. I would still like my Ranger skills to be as useful as Doctor skills in a fight, enhancing my rifle skills (or whatever) enough so that adding Ranger to a combat template is just as viable as adding Doctor. Enhancing, but not replacing, my rifle skills.

Obviously I prefer the Doctor analogy to the Jedi analogy. Actually when Nemo posted his Skill Point discussion thread I quoted it on the Corr forum and got some interesting replies from the Doctor Corr about the skill point change in Doctor and how it effected the profession and how that could be applied to Ranger. I wish he had felt comfortable enough to come and post it here, but Nemo's thread had kinda turned to the dark side by then so I don't blame him.

I did, when the Jedi trees first came out, think Enhanced Reflexes and Force Enhancement were the Scout and Ranger professions reflected in the Jedi line, just as Enhanced Senses and Force Healing were reflections of the Medic and Doctor professions. I was determined to pick up those aspects of Jedi if I ever unlocked because I considered them "ours." However, I do not want to be a smaller version of Enhancer (Enhancer - the Super Duper Scout? ). Jedi Enhancers and Rangers are two very different concepts, different lifestyles if you will, and should remain very unique from each other.

To make us unique, Rangers have the concept built into our profession that we are the best equipped to deal with the natural world. Even though this concept has never really gelled I still maintain that it is a valid and important idea to hold onto, or else we run the danger of becoming just another "type." We have never been happy being Super Scouts, I don't think we will be happy being Lesser Enhancers. What we want is to be unique and useful, a meaningful investment of skill points and time. We don't need to be made similar to something else, combat or jedi profession, we just need the potential of what we are fully realized.



Paks
Master Ranger/Master Creature Handler
-I support ATK play

Serraphin
Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:57 am
#12

I would be happy with that vision. My main concern is and has always been to get value from all 4 trees and the Master box. I expect each tree to have value sufficient with the cost associated with acquiring it. For example, the Trapping tree does add the ability to effect higher level mobs but the traps given in the Ranger tree just don't warrant the cost. While some of the traps may be hindered by in game mechanics that in no way diminishes in my mind there realtive usefulness or uselessness. I would love to see either the Pdart moved to Ranger or an AoE version of it for Rangers. But along with your enhancer theory I would like to see the resources for anything Rangers make require specific named resources and loots. Any enhancer type specials would of course need to hit mind, action and possibly health to counterbalance.
BioEngine
Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:59 am
#13

I agree with Paks. We need to be the ultimate outdoorsmen.




A vast majority of every planet is uninhabited by buildings and structures. This should be our playground, where we call no one our betters. We should be able to make total use of the natural environments around us.


It seems that making suggestions and brainstorming does nothing, however, because things are only shaped by feedback. They are not assembled with the community's suggestions in mind at the start.





Account active 'till November 10th, contact me on forum name:
Stamina
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